Inside Nechama Rivlin’s Collection of Over 1000 Recipes
8 Recipes
Inside Nechama Rivlin’s Collection of Over 1000 Recipes
8 Recipes
Israel’s late first lady Nechama Rivlin was a collector — of art, citrus juicers, pieces of fabric she liked, the lyrics to songs she heard on the radio, and more than 1000 recipes. Over the course of her life (1945 to 2019), she documented recipes from neighbors, chefs, newspapers, and any other source that intrigued her. Written by hand on cards, she often noted where the recipe came from and sometimes illustrated elements of it.
Raised on Moshav Herut in central Israel, Nechama grew up amongst the moshav’s citrus groves with her mother’s resourceful cooking like a plate of bread and meat patties during the Tzena, a period of austerity that marked the first decade of the country. When she married Reuven Rivlin, an eighth generation Jerusalemite, she learned his family recipes as well, like one for eggplants stewed with peppers in a tomato sauce.
There were recipes Nechama never had a chance to make, but she cooked constantly, explains her daughter Anat Rivlin. Lunch after school was sacred. Nechama would invite her children’s friends to join to ensure everyone would be home for the meal. And sweets were always on hand in her kitchen for family and guests. In the winter, she made orange cake and lemon meringue pie with citrus from her parents’ moshav and during the summer, she would whip up a crumble with prunes and plums. She also collected more than 50 cheesecake recipes.
Today, Anat’s husband Gadi and her sister Rivka keep some of the recipes alive, making dishes like roast chicken with lemon and herbs and the Shabbat dish macaroni hamin for family gatherings.
These recipes first appeared on the website of Asif: Culinary Institute of Israel and was part of the exhibition “A Kitchen of One’s Own: Nechama Rivlin.” Find more Asif recipes here.
In this collection
8 Recipes
